06-18-2009, 10:58 AM
Mine finally arrived this morning.
First of all, for people who like books, this is a nice one. Its pocket-sized 5" x 8" (octavo?) format with weatherproof-style binding (no dustjacket), and the page layout is nice and clear. Two sets of 8 glossy colour pages present (a) a selection of Peter Connolly's paintings and (b) a selection of photos of the Ermine Street Guard. The in-text illustrations are black and white drawings and half-tone photos (including some nice views from Trajan's Column -- unfortunately the precise scene numbers are not given).
Each chapter is headed by a pseudo-Latin tag, along the lines of "Join the army, see the world" (although the latter is translated as an imperative -- pervagare orbem terrarum -- where it should surely just be future tense: "(you will) see the world"?) There are other oddities of Latin (e.g. De Res Militari); certainly, these will not trouble the target readers, but ... why not get it right?
The content is supposed to be light-hearted. We are to imagine that we have joined the Roman army in AD 100 and this is our handbook. Matyszak mostly manages to pull this off -- except that the Picts appear as one of the "People Who Will Want To Kill You" (hmmm ... not for another 200 years), and Hadrian's Wall appears as the northern frontier. And he's not too good on the legions: I Minervia appears as Minerva; III Gallica appears as Gallicia; VII Claudia, but just XI; IX Hispana appears as IX Hispania; and XXI Rapax is listed (although he has remembered to omit others destroyed before AD100). Silly mistakes -- why not try and get it right?
The text is dotted with original sources in bite-sized translation. Sometimes the source is stated (e.g. "Plutarch Life of Crassus 27") sometimes not (e.g. "Papyrus from Egypt, AD 117"). Sometimes the source is easily intelligible (e.g. "Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 2487") sometimes not (e.g. "Document relating to a release from military service on 24 April AD 52"). These are probably not important issues for the target audience. (But, again, if you're going to do something, why not do it properly?)
All in all, probably an amusing read to while away an hour or two.
Quote:Should be good for the newrecruits too!Probably a good overview for the newcomer, but (inevitably) contains its fair share of factoids and minor inaccuracy (e.g. cornicularis = trumpeter! honourable discharge is given as misso honesta -- but maybe "thrown out worthily" could be a soldiers' joke?). If you're going to all the trouble of publishing a book, why not make sure you've got it right? :roll:
First of all, for people who like books, this is a nice one. Its pocket-sized 5" x 8" (octavo?) format with weatherproof-style binding (no dustjacket), and the page layout is nice and clear. Two sets of 8 glossy colour pages present (a) a selection of Peter Connolly's paintings and (b) a selection of photos of the Ermine Street Guard. The in-text illustrations are black and white drawings and half-tone photos (including some nice views from Trajan's Column -- unfortunately the precise scene numbers are not given).
Each chapter is headed by a pseudo-Latin tag, along the lines of "Join the army, see the world" (although the latter is translated as an imperative -- pervagare orbem terrarum -- where it should surely just be future tense: "(you will) see the world"?) There are other oddities of Latin (e.g. De Res Militari); certainly, these will not trouble the target readers, but ... why not get it right?
The content is supposed to be light-hearted. We are to imagine that we have joined the Roman army in AD 100 and this is our handbook. Matyszak mostly manages to pull this off -- except that the Picts appear as one of the "People Who Will Want To Kill You" (hmmm ... not for another 200 years), and Hadrian's Wall appears as the northern frontier. And he's not too good on the legions: I Minervia appears as Minerva; III Gallica appears as Gallicia; VII Claudia, but just XI; IX Hispana appears as IX Hispania; and XXI Rapax is listed (although he has remembered to omit others destroyed before AD100). Silly mistakes -- why not try and get it right?
The text is dotted with original sources in bite-sized translation. Sometimes the source is stated (e.g. "Plutarch Life of Crassus 27") sometimes not (e.g. "Papyrus from Egypt, AD 117"). Sometimes the source is easily intelligible (e.g. "Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 2487") sometimes not (e.g. "Document relating to a release from military service on 24 April AD 52"). These are probably not important issues for the target audience. (But, again, if you're going to do something, why not do it properly?)
All in all, probably an amusing read to while away an hour or two.
